CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
It's only ENG but big pledges maybe, and if they come through, may set warmer tone up here too? Best of it, potentially, I think, is the promised higher standards for infra design guidance.
I wonder if this is worth own thread or shld be in the 30 pager thread for Scot Gov covid promises?
“
Residents will get powers to banish through-traffic from local streets and councils will be prevented from building substandard cycle lanes under what Downing Street has billed as a revolution for cycling and walking in England.
“
What I'd hoped a Gilligan/Johnson duet to bring out. I guess the pandemic formed the perfect cover to push for it. Just need to get Conservative councillors on the same page.
The much hyped design guide (LTN 1/20): https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/904088/cycle-infrastructure-design-ltn-1-20.pdf
Some interesting bits from their "Summary Principles":
Cycle infrastructure should be accessible to everyone from 8 to 80 and beyond: it should be planned and designed for everyone. The opportunity to cycle in our towns and cities should be universal.
Cycles must be treated as vehicles and not as pedestrians. On urban streets, cyclists must be physically separated from pedestrians and should not share space with pedestrians
Cyclists must be physically separated and protected from high volume motor traffc, both at junctions and on the stretches of road between them.
Largely cosmetic interventions which bring few or no benefts for cycling or walking will not be funded from any cycling or walking budget.
Access control measures, such as chicane barriers and dismount signs, should not be used.
All designers of cycle schemes must experience the roads as a cyclist.
Also:
DON’T This track
requires cyclists to give
way at each side road.
Routes involving extra
distance or lots of
stopping and starting
will result in some
cyclists choosing to
ride on the main
carriageway instead
because it is faster
and more direct, even
if less safe.
That felt good to read
Ooh.
All designers of cycle schemes must
experience the roads as a cyclist.
Ideally, all schemes would be designed by people
who cycle regularly. But in every case, those who
design schemes should travel through the area on a
cycle to understand how it feels - and experience
some of the failings described above, to understand
why they do not work. The most effective way to
gain this understanding is to get out and cycle the
route and observe users’ behaviour.
Schemes must be consistent.
A scheme is only as good as its weakest point.
Strenuous efforts should be made to avoid
inconsistent provision, such as a track going from
the road to the pavement and then back on to the
road, or a track which suddenly vanishes.
All designers of cycle schemes must
experience the roads as a hand cyclist, accompanied by kids.
fixed that for them.
All designers of cycle schemes must experience the roads as a 104 year old tricyclist, accompanied by great-great grandkids?
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If England does, as Boris Johnson has promised, enjoy a new era of mass walking and cycling, then two of the primary reasons could be lurking within the more technical and unglamorous elements of his £2bn policy announcement: updated regulations and a new watchdog.
For countless years, while central government and local authorities talked up the benefits of safer streets and more cycling, too many of the actual bike lanes built ended up being little more than precipitously slim strips of paint, often ending abruptly.
But under the new No 10 plans, bike lane design standards are not only being updated, but will be enforced by a body called Active Travel England. Billed as a travel equivalent of Ofsted, it can insist on certain designs, inspect what is built and withdraw funding from councils that are too tardy or unambitious.
Veterans of the cycling world will detect in this tough approach the hand of Andrew Gilligan, who as Johnson’s cycling tsar when the PM was mayor of London pushed through a rapid second-term programme of bike lanes, metaphorically twisting the arms of certain councils to speed things up.
“
Casting aside any concerns about whether Scotland with adopt any of this - and whether there will be Consequentials cash, this is CLEARLY A GOOD THING.
‘We’ will ‘understand’/applaud/marvel.
It goes nicely alongside Boris’ (non-nannying of course) push for constraints on promoting ’junk food’, calls for people to lose weight and get fit etc.
Certainly we are in wholly unprecedented times, but it’s hard to see how far his Party, and (generally) supportive media will stick with this - ESPECIALLY - if other things happen.
Like cancellation of road schemes (perhaps even HS2) and serious attempts to create a National HealthY Service, etc.
Boris the good news showman could probably pull some of this off, but the CV crisis has shown he isn’t good at detail or decisive leadership and the Tory ‘centre ground’ is beginning to organise against him.
Meanwhile I look forward to the SG rushing out an upgraded version of cycle design standards and (optimum?) give Sustrans the responsibility (and money obviously) to enforce standards. Could be part funded by abolishing Cycling Scotland - the days of advertising ‘be nice’ and ‘you might like cycling’ are over.
Build it and they’ll start coming, then build some more. Perhaps have some sort of national cycle NETWORK.
Obviously, certain local councillors will fall in behind their boss. Or is this the final straw that leads to a genuinely separate(d) Scottish Conservative (and less Unionist) Party??
give Sustrans the responsibility (and money obviously) to enforce standards
No. They've been recruiting people-pleasers and compromisers for twenty years. A regulator needs to be willing to be hated.
The one thing which seems missing from what I have read is an obligation on councils to build anything. If they build using central funds it has to be up to standard but if (like East Dunbartonshire) they have no ambition and apply for no funding then there is nothing to force them to do so.
Overall it looks good though.
Sustrans in Scotland have effectively been enforcing standards for a few years now because they hold the purse strings. In fact there's a lot of moaning from Local authorities about gold plating due the fact that Sustrans aren't funding their paint-only lanes or their plans to narrow paths to avoid taking any space from the pampered motorist. They've certainly scuppered some dubious schemes that were planned down here, and upgraded a planned shared-use path into a separate cycle track and pedestrian path.
“Sustrans in Scotland have effectively been enforcing standards for a few years now because they hold the purse strings.”
For schemes they fund.
Presumably there are schemes that went ahead without Sustrans channelled funding - either because it didn’t fit any Sustrans’ scheme or had been turned down (for whatever reason) and done ‘on the cheap’?
Picardy Place!
Any new organisation should obviously be headed by Sally at a salary somewhere between the First Minister’s and NHS boss’ remuneration.
“Picardy Place!“
Yes, though I don’t think that’s being done on the cheap!
I will also apply, citing my greater willingness and ability to be hated.
"Presumably there are schemes that went ahead without Sustrans channelled funding"
I would imagine there are little to no walking/cycling projects done without Sustrans support+funding. 100% of design costs & 50-75% of construction costs is just too lucrative.
Some paint-only lanes might have gone in during resurfacing works, I suppose, but very few local authorities that I know of are spending their own money on bike infrastructure.
I suspect "our" campaigning should now focus on Scotland getting the same set-up (or better) as England...
Let's not drop the ball.
We are close...
@neddie
I have begun this already. Suggested to two SNP councillors that Edinburgh should apply to join England.
Boris Johnson visiting the Cycle Lounge, a bicycle repair shop in Beeston. Photograph: Rui Vieira/AFP/Getty Images
There's Boris getting his Cervelo serviced!
I suppose the mooted revisions of the Highway Code wld apply in SCO too?
Here's a jolly side thought - that Nick Cook guy, he must be fuming today!
I'm not disagreeing with the policy and perhaps it was just bad timing but a shot of Boris with a £3K plus bike perhaps wasn't the best idea for a grassroots cycling campaign.
We should always bear in mind the possibility that the regime is lying or trying to distract people from something else.
Well it is their usual modus operandi. No new funding and it will likely be kicked into the long grass in about a week when the media move onto something else.
It's new-ish. A lot of the 2bn was going to be bus funding until lockdown started. Seems kind of reasonable to at least start to spend that before committing more.
I want to be optimistic!
Highway code changes will apply up here.
Ah, interesting re Highway code, toomanybikes, thanks.
Even if the promises mostly fail to materialise, it's a big step forward if they update the design book or whatever that is called, which does seem to be one big strand of this.
At today’s Council meeting Cllrs Cook and MacLellan were dismissive of studies showing the benefits of cycling to businesses. Will be interested to see if they make any comment on this.
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